Beautiful Things

Heritage Auctions is yet again offering unique and rare pieces of original animation art.
I just love this concept/layout piece from Cinderella. One of my favorite sequences not only in animation, but in film period. This is how the scene was established, even though we never see this particular staging in the film. So powerful, so much personality in just one sketch. I am not sure who drew this, perhaps Ken O'Connor or Ken Anderson.

Anita and Perdita in Regent's Park in London. A beautiful experimental sketch by Ken Anderson.
I posted a similar piece a while back.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMH-UuV1Ff9CN-nXCKbgJKW0FDVLyBAMnzTuVHmqoQ6KO719czLJ-dIJuXPCKN3FVnkbl4nNGmRBRIKd7QazqSX8fv15DO6vUx-CLE19E3ok8n1hQGFiNGE7j5vBnQRmWMGylA-EW6bmD/s1600/KA101.jpg

A publicity cel set up with Walt and Ludwig Von Drake. Magic!!!

The Ludwig Von Drake Dilemma

Ludwig Von Drake is a great TV character, created late in Walt's life during the early 1960s.
According to one artist who was there at the time, one of the animators who was assigned to this new Disney personality was Marc Davis.
Marc had just finished Cruella De Vil, and he was not eager to "step down" to do animation for a TV character. Marc did produce some animation of Ludwig, which did not meet approval.
Marc moved over to Imagineering instead, and the rest is history.
Milt Kahl took over and designed Ludwig's earliest scenes for his first TV appearance in the 1961 episode "An adventure in Color". Needless to say...brilliant work.
Ward Kimball was put back into animation on Ludwig after Walt's dissatisfaction over Ward's involvement in the mostly live action musical Babes in Toyland.
In the end I believe that Milt and Frank Thomas  MADE the character into the personality we all know today.
A befuddled, often confused yet likeable professor.

More on his personality here:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/professor-ludwig-von-drake.html

Joe Grant

Joe Grant was one of a kind. I am pinching myself when I think about all those years working with him on various Disney films.

Many of you know know that Joe had a Disney career twice. First from the early 1930s to the mid 1940s, and then again from 1989 until his passing in 2005 at the age of 96.

His quirky sense of humor is evident in his 'Idea" sketches. He would do a series of those, and a new film sequence was born. Or a complete short film. 

Joe didn't mind answering our questions about the Golden Age at Disney, but he rather preferred to discuss the present and the future of animation. He watched almost every animated programing from The Simpsons to SpongeBob. Joe was a student of fine art, some of his favorite "cartoonists" were Kley and Sullivant.

I will never forget right after Joe returned to Disney for a second run, Frank Thomas phoned him and asked: " Why on earth are you back at the studio ?"

Joe replied:"Why aren't you?"

The brilliant short film Lorenzo was Joe's idea. His sketches are on the left, director Mike Gabriel's
designs on the right.

A brilliant caricature by John Musker. Man, would I love to animate this design. 

Oops, I just had an idea for another short film!

Ed Aardal

Ed Aardal lived from 1910 to 1988. He worked for Disney for twenty years starting in 1935. He originally did effects animation, but was soon sent over to the character animation department.
Perhaps because of his effects background Ed was assigned to complex scenes like this one from Lady and the Tramp.
It is amazing to realize that in the final film you barely see a dark silhouette of the dog catcher's wagon, taking Tramp to the dog pound. Yet in animation every detail was analyzed as if this was a daytime scene.
Ed Aardal is one of those unsung heroes who we need to shed light on for his important body of work in animation. I believe this was his last film for Disney before moving on to other studios like Hanna Barbara. An animation legend!
For a 1984 interview with Ed go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uag5Pl03luE

Naughty

I just love this cel from the Silly Symphony Three Little Wolves from 1936. There is little doubt that Fred Moore animated this scene, in which two little wolves pester one of the pigs.
The whole situation is child-like without being childish. The staging of the scene is so beautiful, two bullies messing with one of the pigs.
I have a big smile on my face  looking at this image, because Naughty meets Innocence in a very entertaining manner. You just want to smack these two brats and have them leave the pig alone.
Sincere animation in contrast to Warner Brothers characters at that time, who often acted in a cynical and sarcastic way. (I love Warner's animation as well, because it differentiated itself from Disney's wholesomeness.)
But there is something special about this cel, because the business of the scene is truly based on real situations.
I wished that entertaining, graphic animation like this still existed.

Frazetta Drawings

I guess most of you know of Frank Frazetta's work. His draughtsmanship (as well as painting) is extraordinary. He became known as the world's best illustrator for the fantasy/science fiction genre.
Copied by many, but no other artist has came close to this level of expertise.
The depiction of his women and men are sexually charged figures within various storytelling themes.
Bodybuilders and pin up girls. His animals and monsters are strong and muscular as well.
Frazetta goes for maximum dramatic effect in his composition to dazzle the viewers.
There is a sense of ease in his line work. I particularly like his loose drawings. Marvelous doodles that continue to inspire today's animators and illustrators.
I would call him a modern Heinrich Kley.

Alice and the Queen

A great Frank Thomas drawing of the Queen of Hearts which was recently offered at auction, and is now available on Ebay. Classic Disney villains are often portrayed in a subtle manner, like the Queen in Snow White, Cinderella's Stepmother or Maleficent.

But this bad lady is cartoony, and Frank loved working on scenes with her. He liked playing off the contrast between dainty expressions followed by over the top emotional outbursts. Actress Verna Felton gave him plenty explosive voice recordings that helped define her personality.

It's amazing to realize that she also voiced the kind Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, the movie preceding Alice. Which speaks for Verna Felton's acting range.

Below a magazine article from Silver Screen, May 1951. One of many to promote the release of Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

Anatomy and Structure

Animator Bill Justice drew this scene with the character of John from Peter Pan.

Without thorough knowledge of the human body via life drawing this type of animation would fall apart. Spine, shoulders, rip cage, hip bones etc. are things that you need to know about. 

You need to know how they connect, and of course how they look in motion. Tracing live action reference is simply not an option. Your knowledge of human anatomy is key.

Bill Justice did his homework. He might be known as the animator who brought Chip and Dale to life, but he was also capable of handling complex realism.

I don't know who drew these pose of Pluto, but I really like them. Here you find anatomical structure as well, just applied in a much looser manner. Pluto is a very cartoony dog, but dog anatomy is evident nevertheless. There are definitive elbows, knees, shoulders and hips. 

This earlier style of Disney drawing allowed for greater flexibility and cheats. 

Disney's animators always knew how to handle a character based on the degree of realism. They went far out with Pluto and Donald Duck, but were holding back effectively on characters like Bambi or Lady and the Tramp.

John drawings/Howard Lowery

Fabulous Fantasia

A collection of amazing model sheets are being offered at Heritage Auctions. Created by Disney's character model department they show a versatility of styles and artistic approaches, depending on the individual artist who drew them. The Bacchus sheet consists of sketches by Ward Kimball. He did not enjoy this assignment, he phoned it in, as you might say today. Ward had his eyes on the Dance of the Hours sequence, but didn't end up working on it.
Zeus, Vulcan, Apollo and his horses are portrayed in an exaggerated 1940s art deco style with intriguing anatomy.
And the two Pegasus sheets just kill me. The volume in line drawing, the perspective, unbelievable!
Stylized realism, yet animatable.
Stuff for the ages.

Ollie's Birthday

Ollie Johnston's birthday is on Halloween. Next week would be his 106th. He was the longest living member of the Nine Old Men.
I love this photo of him (by Mark Kirkland), because this is just how I remember him. When reminiscing about his career at Disney, he said:"I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time."
Ollie was kind to everybody, he loved talking to young artists who shared his passion. He was full of stories and anecdotes from decades he spent animating at Disney.
He would tell things like what a ball he had working on the film Robin Hood. "I was probably one of the few artists who enjoyed animating on that movie because they gave me Prince John and Sir Hiss."
Milt Kahl didn't care for Robin Hood, and Frank Thomas is known to list his assignments as his least favorites.
Ollie's work continues to inspire, I still can't figure out how he animated Baloo and Mowgli during the Bare Necessities number. The rhythm, the choreography and the sheer joy in the animation still blows my mind.
Here are just a few reminders of his genius.

Jock and Alice/Howard Lowery

Prince & the Pauper

This is a cel from one of my scenes from Disney's 1990 featurette The Prince & the Pauper.

I remember working very hard to distinguish the TWO Mickeys. One is a prince, one is a pauper. 

Same look, different personalities and behavior. 

I tried to portray the Pauper with submissive acting, while the Prince is confident and in charge. He's the authority. 

This turned out to be a fun assignment, even though the film's overall story is somewhat scattered.

Thinking back, I just remember how much I enjoyed animating Mickey Mouse.

More of my Black Cauldron Designs

It's so interesting to see drawings you haven't looked at in decades. Heritage Auctions is again offering concept art from The Black Cauldron (from the film's producer's estate.) These are from another lifetime of mine.

Some were drawn in Germany, when I found out that Disney planned to produce this film. I read the books by Lloyd Alexander and got inspired. I do remember the sketches of Taran above, the witches as well as Taran with "big" Hen Wen were sketched out in my little cubby hole of a student place in Essen/Werden Germany. The others I did when I started at Disney in 1980.

This is an early version of Creeper, the Horned King's sidekick.

More designs for for the monster birds, called the Gwythaints.

And again the three witches. By the way I used the design of the witch on the right for my assignment in the Disney Animation training program. Eric Larson asked me wether I wanted to do some animation on a classic Disney character or on a character designed by my own. So I chose this witch, who is really a mix of Madame Medusa and Madame Mim.
What mattered is that the scenes I animated seemed good enough for employment on actual production.

The L. Alexander books described Hen Wen as a pig having oracular powers. To me this had to be an old pig...sort of a gypsy type,

The "cuter" version of Hen Wen trying to escape the claws of a giant Gwythaint.